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Quick HitAshlee RezinMonday March 4th, 2013, 6:47pm

Illinois Business Leaders Call On Counterparts To Support Immigration Reform

It is economically imperative for America, and the Midwest
specifically, to further embrace immigrant populations into its
workforce, according to a panel of Illinois’ business executives who
urged immigration reform today at The Chicago Club.

The panel, which was comprised of members of the Chicago Council On Global Affairs’ Task Force on Immigration and U.S. Economic Competitiveness, introduced a recent report (PDF) that discusses the role of immigrants in the corporate sector. The group also encouraged members of The Chicago Club to support economic policies that
would advance immigrants in the job sector.

“We as a nation must work harder to
attract and retain immigrant talent and avoid wasting the potential of
the immigrants already here,” the report reads. “Our problem: the
nation’s broken immigration system is holding back the region’s economic
growth and clouding its future.”

“The
more talent we have to hire, the happier we are," Rowe said during the
panel discussion. “The challenge with the business community is not to get its
support, the challenge is to get active, effective and committed support
because every business owner or business executive has 100 issues on
his or her plate, and unfortunately, typically 20 or 30 of them involve
politics and you only have so much political capital to spend.”

“The challenge with corporate leadership is always, ‘well, do I want to risk my company in any way for this issue?’”

Also included on the 53-person
Task Force on Immigration and U.S. Economic Competitiveness is former
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is a co-chair and listed as an
author of the report; Dave Bender, executive director of ACEC-Illinois; Juan Ochoa, president of Miramar International Group, who was recently a candidate for Cicero town president; and former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar.

The
Midwest, which the report defines as Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska, is home to 1.3 million undocumented immigrants. More than 200,000 came to the country as children.

“We truly are in a situation now where we are going to
lose competitiveness if we don’t do something,” said Scott during the
panel. “We have to make a change.”

Saying the Midwest needs
“employment-based immigration that meets the needs of employers and
employees”, the report gives broad recommendations for immigration
reform, including increasing the number of Visas available to meet
America’s labor needs.

It also recommends streamlining the process
for temporary Visas so workers may come “quickly, easily and legally”
for seasonal employment, a simplification of E-verify under a “uniform federal
mandate” so employers may more easily confirm work eligibility, an increase in technology and communication between law enforcement agencies
for stronger border security, and the passage of a federal version of the
DREAM Act in Congress so the Midwest’s “best, brightest and most
motivated young people” won’t lose out on the opportunity to work in
America.

“The workforce of the future is already here,” said Muñana during the panel. “We need to enable immigrants to really thrive and achieve the American dream as we know it.”

With 350,000 in Illinois alone, there are 8.5 million undocumented immigrants that have been in the country for more than five years.

Naturalized
Americans have fewer instances of poverty and higher graduation rates
than their undocumented counterparts, according to the report. Researchers looked at
nationwide Census Bureau data and found that among men, the median
income is $47,000 for legal immigrants and $28,000 for undocumented immigrants. For women, citizens earned a median income of $37,500, while
noncitizens earned $24,000.

Public figures

Level of gov't

Comments

lgjhere

3:55pm

Tue Mar 5

Let’s face it, this immigration thing is a 20th century issue that has slopped over into the 21st century. The time has come to finally resolve it in an intelligent fashion, as three-fourths of Americans favor and Obama will confront head-on. An interesting new worldwide book/ebook that helps explain the role, struggles, and contributions of immigrants and minorities is "What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z: How to understand crazy American culture, people, government, business, language and more.” It paints a revealing picture of America for those who will benefit from a better understanding. Endorsed by ambassadors, educators, and editors, it also informs those who want to learn more about the last remaining superpower and how we compare to other nations on many issues.
As the book points out, immigrants and minorities are a major force in America, as Romney and the GOP recently discovered. Immigrants and the children they bear account for 60 percent of our nation’s population growth and own 11 percent of US businesses and are 60 percent more likely to start a new business than native-born Americans. They represent 17 percent of all new business owners (in some states more than 30 percent). Foreign-born business owners generate nearly one-quarter of all business income in California and nearly one-fifth in New York, Florida, and New Jersey.
Legal immigrants number 850,000 each year; undocumented (illegal) immigrants are estimated to be half that number. They come to improve their lives and create a foundation of success for their children to build upon, as did the author’s grandparents when they landed at Ellis Island in 1899 after losing 2 children to disease on a cramped cattle car-like sailing from Europe to the Land of Opportunity. Many bring skills and a willingness to work hard to make their dreams a reality, something our founders did four hundred years ago. In describing America, chapter after chapter chronicles “foreigners” who became successful in the US and contributed to our society. However, most struggle in their efforts and need guidance in Anytown, USA. Perhaps intelligent immigration reform, White House-Congress cooperation, concerned citizens and books like this can extend a helping hand, an unwavering hand that has been the anchor and lighthouse of America’s values and beliefs for four hundred years.
Here’s a closing quote from the book’s Intro: “With all of our cultural differences though, you’ll be surprised to learn how much our countries—and we as human beings—have in common on this little third rock from the sun. After all, the song played at our Disneyland parks around the world is ‘It’s A Small World After All.’ Peace.” www.AmericaAtoZ.com